Cat's in the Cradle
by Askeebe
Summary: What happens if Thane allowed Kolyat to join the Compact when he was a child? How would it affect his relationship with Irikah, Kolyat and Shepard? AU. Starts at Thane's loyalty mission.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: I got a prompt request from Stacey218 that piqued my interest._

_AU where Kolyat is drafted into the Compact, and how that would affect Thane and Kolyat's later relationship when they meet again in ME2, how it would affect Irikah and their marriage, and how Shepard might react to that. _

_I really don't need to be writing another fic right now, but I couldn't resist. So this one will be done in between my main story, since I'm promising myself and my readers I'd finish it. Updates to this one will be when I get to them. It won't be all that long, but I'm thinking 6-8 chapters. We'll see. I do tend to get wordy. :)_

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The year is 2166. Thane holds his newborn son close to his chest while his wife sleeps away the exhaustion of childbirth. It doesn't matter that he's already memorized each tiny stripe and spot on his son's skin, black against a delicate blue. Using less force than would be required to pull the trigger on his sniper rifle, he gently and reverently traces the patterns again.

The year is 2168. He has talked to Irikah. She is still opposed, but he can see no other way. He stops by Kolyat's room and watches his small son sleep peacefully. When he's awake, he's all energy and curiosity, but it's these quiet moments he loves best. He drops his hand to Kolyat's tiny head and caresses it gently. He would do anything to keep the two that he loves so much safe and protected. With a heavy sigh, he turns and noiselessly walks out of the room. He goes to his computer and sends a note to a contract broker. He's now officially a freelance assassin.

It's two months later in 2168. It's his first freelance contract and the first time he has hunted since he left the Compact over two years ago. He's rusty, even though his skills have been honed in him since earliest childhood. Luckily, this contract is an easy one, although that also means a lower payout. Still, it's more money than he made in the entire past six months, and he finished the job in just two weeks. Yes, this is where he truly belongs. Irikah doesn't approve, but they need shelter and food, and he will provide for them.

The year is 2171. Kolyat is five and a half and never stops talking. In that, he takes after his mother rather than his stoic father. There are times Thane despairs of ever having a moment's peace in his house again, and he doubts he can answer one more nonsensical question. But he breathes deeply, looks into his son's eyes, and answers each question gravely. He still stops by his son's room when he's sleeping peacefully and strokes his head. He's bigger, but still so young and innocent. Thane wishes he could remember his own childhood as clearly.

The year is 2172. The hanar are here. Irikah is distraught. Thane is proud, but why does it feel like his heart is breaking in half? Later, he will remember what everyone said with perfect clarity, but for now only bits and pieces penetrate his daze. "Honor the Compact..." "Your genetic potential..." "…make up for your early departure, Sere Krios." Was this how his own parents felt? Nothing shows on his face when Kolyat walks away. It's only when their son is out of sight that Irikah breaks down and cries on his shoulder. He wraps his arms around her and allows himself to give into his own grief.

The year is 2176. Irikah's tears have stopped, but the grief still runs deep. "No more, Thane," she says. "I can't go through this again." Three times they hoped. Three times, hope turned to despair and sorrow as the tiny life slipped away too soon. He tries to find something to say, but he's never been good with words. All he can do is hold his angel tightly.

The year is late in 2176. He sees his son for the first time in nearly five years. The circumstances are extraordinary, as they must be for a trainee to be allowed to leave the Compact training hall, but they are also sorrowful. Kolyat is quiet now as Irikah's body slips beneath the waves. Thane doesn't know what to say to his son. They exchange awkward formalities. In spite of the sorrow, there is a thread of pride in him at his son's quiet strength. He doesn't know what Kolyat is training for, and his son won't tell him. Thane hopes it's not assassination, but his gut fears otherwise.

The year is 2185. He has spent the last decade in a battlesleep, taking on ever more difficult contracts. He kills to protect those who have no protector and in penance for failing to save his own love. Killing Nassana Dantius was to have been his last contract, but a dead Spectre saves him this night by drawing the guards' attention and allowing him to sneak past them. Instead of dying, he accepts a new commission and walks out of the Dantius tower at her side. Now he fights to erase his sins by saving humanity.

His omni tool pings with an urgent message that shakes him from his mournful reverie. A contact inside the Guild informs him that his son is in danger. Even after so many years apart, he cannot ignore the compulsion to protect his only son. He asks to speak to the Commander and prays that she will be compassionate.

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_By the by, title is (obviously) from the very famous song of the same name. I actually hate the song, but it's because it brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. Still, I can't think of anything more appropriate for Thane and Kolyat in this story._


	2. Chapter 2

Thane was on Shepard's left, Garrus was on her right, as usual. As always when on a mission, he was hyper aware of his surroundings, but this time he couldn't completely suppress the thrum of anxiety that pulsed through him with each heartbeat. _My son. My son is in danger._

It didn't matter that his son was a Compact-trained assassin, just like him. The last time Thane had seen Kolyat, he had been a gangly child of nine. He couldn't imagine him grown up and fighting for his life as his contact has warned. Kolyat was working dark and was unreachable by the Compact, which was why Thane's contact had sought him out.

Even though Shepard had graciously agreed to help and had set an immediate course to the Citadel, Thane was terrified that they would be too late. He had all the info given to Kolyat, who had been tasked with taking out a particularly nasty cell of batarian slave brokers operating in the murky backwaters of the Citadel. These weren't the ones who got their hands dirty by acquiring slaves. In Thane's mind, these were worse. They were the ones who negotiated for slaves, who set the price and determined which colonies to hit and what characteristics to look for in captives. If he weren't so worried about his son, he'd be proud of the task he was doing. Unfortunately, a batarian information broker had managed to hack the details of the contract, and it was a sure bet that Kolyat was walking into a trap.

All three of them jerked at the sound of gunfire nearby. "Shit, it's started," Shepard growled and sprinted toward a run-down warehouse the next block over. His Commander wasn't one for subtlety. It had been hard for him to adjust to in the beginning, but now he welcomed the shock and confusion she created when she threw a grenade to blow open the door and used her biotics to toss the batarian guards up against the wall. She left them for Thane to deal with, and he did – double tapping each in the head.

She dashed into the center of the warehouse. Her white armor gleamed in the dimly lit space, and even when she ducked behind crates, it was easy to pick out her location as the epicenter of destruction in the form of bullets and biotics. "Thane, get high. Look for your son. Garrus, cover me."

Knowing Garrus would find and drop any long distance threats to the Commander, Thane scanned the heights of the building. Where would he be, if this were his contract? There! The roof of the small air-conditioned control room. He couldn't see anything, but he would bet his life that Kolyat was there.

He jumped up and grabbed the catwalk grating for the next level. Ignoring the bullets, he jumped and pulled his way up another level and ran toward the control room. A group of batarian mercenaries was pounding up the stairs and headed for the control room as well. He drew his Tempest and fired while still running. Three of them went down with center shots to the heart.

That got their attention, and they turned to face him, but by then he was in their midst. He had never moved so fast and so fluidly. He was even deadlier hand to hand than he was with a gun. Three in front of him fell to throat strikes and a bullet to the chest. One he swept over the side. If he survived the three story fall, Shepard would take care of him. He felt footsteps shake the grating and turned to see another group charging him from behind. With fluidity born of years of practice, he dropped the heat sink and slammed a fresh one home, all while bringing his Tempest up to bear on the leader, but before he could fire, a neat hole bloomed in the batarian's head and he fell backward. Even as Thane fired on the next enemy, another one fell to a perfectly placed headshot. Quick mental triangulation confirmed Thane's initial suspicion that the shooter was on top of the control room.

The batarians on the catwalk were all down, giving Thane a precious few seconds to regroup and assess the situation. Down on the floor, Shepard was still moving from cover to cover, but he saw a YMIR heavy mech advancing on her position. Garrus was on the opposite wall's catwalk and firing steadily. He didn't see any more enemy targets advancing on the control room for the moment, so he swapped weapons to his Viper and assisted Garrus in wearing down the YMIR to the point where Shepard could destroy it. The hidden sniper on the control room was also aiding them.

Just as she fired the final shot, Garrus cursed loudly over the comm as a group of batarians came up behind him. Thane quickly switched targets, but Garrus was forced to vault over the catwalk and make the long drop to the warehouse floor. He landed badly and sprawled out helplessly. Shepard used her biotics to throw an entire stack of crates at Garrus to provide temporary cover until he could regain his feet, something not made easier by being covered in crates, but he managed.

At the same time, another YMIR lurched into the warehouse and a group of batarians appeared behind Thane. "Damn it, Thane! What the hell did your son do to these jerks?" Shepard groused over the comm as she dived for cover and dragged Garrus with her. Thane knew better than to answer. She was just talking, something she did to relieve tension. Besides, he didn't have an answer for her.

The YMIR ignored Shepard and Garrus in their scant cover. Instead, it was targeting the control room with missiles. Just before they launched, Thane saw a shadowy figure dive from the top of the roof, but he lost track of the figure in the resulting explosion. "No!" he yelled and ran toward the burning wreckage. The YMIR was winding up to fire again. "Shepard, stop it!" he pleaded as he ran.

"On it," she muttered. She stepped out and used her biotics to strip its shields, diverting its attention to her as the largest threat. Garrus worked smoothly with her to overload its systems.

Thane knew he should pay more attention to his team mates, but Shepard and Garrus were a well-oiled machine that worked perfectly together. He was confident they would protect each other, but he had to find out if that shadowy figure was really Kolyat, and if so, he prayed to Arashu that his son was safe.

He skidded to a stop near the wreckage and was forced to pick his way carefully through the twisted metal and jagged siding. The gloom up here was no hindrance to his vision, and soon he spotted a humanoid shape in the wreckage. He jumped over a girder and landed lightly by the downed figure. "Kolyat," he breathed.

His son was stunned, but the sound of his name roused him violently. He whipped his gun arm up at the figure looming over him. Quick as thought, Thane snapped his own hand out and disarmed Kolyat before he could fire. "Kolyat, it's your father." His son stared uncomprehendingly at him before his eyes rolled back in his head and he lapsed into unconsciousness.

Quickly Thane checked him for injuries and found a piece of metal stabbed through his midsection. Thick dark blood was seeping around the wound. Thane grimaced. The wound would be fatal if not attended immediately. He pulled out a medigel pack and squeezed the gel around the wound. There was nothing else he could do until they reached a medical facility.

He realized Shepard was calling him. "Thane, status?"

"I've found him, Shepard, but he's badly injured. He needs medical attention immediately." His only reply was a wordless growl followed by the sound of gunfire. He carefully lifted Kolyat up and hauled him bodily out of the wreckage, doing his best to avoid jostling the metal and making his wound worse.

"Downed one," Garrus announced. "That's the last of them, Shepard."

"We hope," she amended angrily. "All that to take out one assassin? Either your kid is better than you are, or he pissed in someone's cereal big time, Thane."

He couldn't take time to try and understand her human phrasing. "Shepard, I need to get him to a medical facility."

In no time, he heard the heavy thumps of both her and Garrus pounding up the stairs. She flicked Kolyat's jacket open and took a quick look at his wound and then wrapped Kolyat's other arm over her shoulder. "Garrus, take point. Get us out and find us an RTS car."

Thane watched the blood seep down his son's clothes and leave a trail on the floor. Every instinct he had from his own training days was screaming at him for the obvious trail they were leaving behind, but this was different, he told himself. This time, he had Shepard on his side.

Garrus commandeered a car and they quickly loaded Kolyat in the back. The turian made to take the driver's seat, and visibly blanched when Shepard slid behind the wheel. "Really, Shepard? You can't toss the kid around with that kind of wound."

"You drive too slow, Vakarian. Get on the comm, and warn Chakwas to get ready."

Thane slid in next to Kolyat and glared at the other two. They could argue when his son's life wasn't on the line. He was about to say something when Garrus dropped into the passenger's seat and buckled himself in. He turned around and said, "Hold on to your kid, Thane. You've never had the pleasure of Shepard's driving. Too bad this will be your first."

"Shut up, Vakarian," she snapped. Thane was wondering how bad it could be when he got his answer. She accelerated as fast as the car could manage and jerked around the one in front with centimeters to spare.

"Spirits, Shepard! This is taxi, not an armored vehicle. Watch it!"

"He's bleeding out, Garrus! Talk to Chakwas!" Shepard drove like she fought, brash and crazy. She used her horn like she would her biotics, shoving others out of the way in fear of getting caught up in her wake. He held on to Kolyat's jacket to keep him anchored against him. It was hardly the time to get nostalgic, but he stared in wonder at the man his son had grown into. Gone was the innocence of childhood and the gangly awkwardness of youth. In its place was a hardened warrior who resembled Thane at that age to an uncomfortable degree. Kolyat was slimmer than Thane and a little taller, but aside from their coloring, the family resemblance was striking. He hardly knew how he should feel now, staring at the adult face of the child he had given to the Compact fifteen years ago. Kolyat's lips were thin, and even unconscious, he seemed to scowl. Thane didn't have to guess at the training and hardships his son had gone through. Part of him still regretted that decision, especially in light of the fact that he and Irikah had been unable to have more children. But then again, Kolyat wasn't home when the batarians came for Irikah, and perhaps that had spared his life. He would never know. Now, faced with his son after so long, he was desperate to talk to him, to learn about the man he'd become. _Please_, he prayed again, _let him be spared and willing to talk with me._

He suddenly realized they had stopped moving. Shepard had ignored every rule there was and navigated the car through the shipping lanes to land as close to the docking ring as possible. She snapped his door open and helped him pull Kolyat out of the car. He deliberately didn't look back at the pool of blood on the seat. Never had the decontamination cycle seemed so long, but finally they were through. Shepard was yelling for the crew to move as they carried his unconscious son into the medbay where Chakwas and Mordin were waiting. He was vaguely aware of Shepard's arms around him and pulling him out of medbay, but it wasn't until he found himself seated at his table in Life Support that he was able to focus on her.

She sank down in her customary chair with a heavy sigh and stripped off her gauntlets. "Dr. Chakwas is a fantastic trauma doctor, Thane." Even now, he appreciated that she didn't give him the hollow reassurance that Kolyat would live. They had both seen his injury and the amount of blood loss. "How are you doing?"

He stared down at his hands wrapped around each other in his typical meditative pose. His body was still, but his mind was anything but. "I find myself unsettled," he admitted. "I did not realize how much I missed my son. It also makes me think uncomfortably of my own parents. There is nothing like finding yourself in the circumstances of others to appreciate their viewpoint."

"So you never saw them once you...graduated?" Her lips twisted up slightly on the last word. He could tell she was still uncomfortable with the entire concept of the drell and hanar Compact. They had discussed it many times before, but she was unable to get past her own prejudices and felt his service was more a form of slavery than the honor the drell deemed it.

He shook his head. "I did, but it was at Irikah's behest, not my own. In our culture, families are very close, and once a couple are married, their families are joined as well. Irikah became my parents' daughter and I became her parents' son. She dragged me to more gatherings than I wanted, but in time, I became more comfortable with my extended family. It was a major shift from my Compact training where they teach us to be completely self-reliant. Now I realize Kolyat has also lost his larger connection with family and culture. I look at him and see myself, and I have yet to even speak to him." It was only with the practice of long years of self-control that he refrained from showing his anxiety and anger in his words or body language.

"Do you still think the Compact is such an honor?" she asked.

"Of course," he answered immediately. It had been drilled into him since birth that service was one of the highest honors an individual could perform for both drell and hanar. But after his reflexive answer, he wondered if that was still true. Perhaps if he had never known the joys of marriage, family and fatherhood, he would still think the same, but now he admitted that a large part of him felt severed.

He thought of Kolyat. The odds of his son finding someone to change his mind the way Irikah had changed him were infinitesimal. So it was likely, indeed, almost certain, that his son still felt the same commitment and honor that Thane had before he met Irikah. Thane could only hope that his son survived so that they could discuss such things as he did with Shepard. There was so much he didn't know about his only son, and he had written off any chance of ever finding out. Now to have this opportunity was a gift from the gods. He looked back at Shepard. She seemed unconvinced of his answer, and he felt a challenge would not be long in coming.

She did not disappoint. "I don't see it." She wouldn't actually be crass enough to call him wrong, having admitted that his culture was alien instead of human, but they had discussed humanity's history of slavery and the indentured servitude of Illium frequently in the past. "You had no choice in the matter. It was a decision made for you by your parents and the Compact. They brainwas...taught you everything you know. You didn't have a chance to grow up thinking anything different. Of course, you're going to consider it an honor if that's what everyone around you tells you."

He bowed his head slightly to her. "And yet, even as an adult, I made the same decision for my son, because it _is _an honor, Shepard. You may ask him yourself if he agrees with me."

Her lips quirked up in that half smile that he found so pleasing. It was as if she refused to take anything seriously if she wasn't forced to. He had been with her long enough to know that the burdens she carried were substantial, and he sensed that her irreverence was how she balanced her life. "I intend to. Hang in there, Thane. If he's anything like you, he's a fighter. He'll pull through." She stood up. "I should go. I need to change and get us enroute. We need to go find Tali."

Thane rose to accompany her to the door. He knew that this side trip to the Citadel had been unplanned. "Thanks are inadequate for what you have done, Shepard. You have given me this chance to save my son." She smiled again and clapped her hand against his arm before she headed out. Normally such casual contact disturbed him; he hated for anyone to be that close to him. But he was finding that Shepard was an exception to many things he had come to expect as normal in his life.

He walked slowly back to his table as he reflected on his charismatic Commander. He truly could never repay her for what she had done, even if...and his mind had trouble forming the words...Kolyat died. He wasn't the first she'd helped, either. She'd gone to Tuchanka with Grunt and taken down a thresher maw on foot, of all things. If he hadn't been there, he wasn't sure he would have believed it. It was as if she were a...ah.

He sank slowly down into his seat. He hadn't seen it at first. Her alien nature was too strong at first for him to recognize it. She was one of Arashu's own. Another siha. _Why?_ he asked Arashu. Why would the gods put another siha in his life? Was it his duty to protect her, as he had been unable to do with Irikah? It would give him much to ponder in his meditation until Kolyat awoke.


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing Kolyat was conscious of was pain. It was a sharp, stabbing pain in his midsection. The numerous other pains in his head, back and limbs were minor compared to that one. He had been trained to ignore pain, but there were some things one simply could not ignore.

He kept his body still as he reached out with his senses. He felt air move softly across his scales, and he realized he had been stripped down with just a sheet covering him. He scented the air and detected antiseptic. The room was silent, and he couldn't tell how large it was or if anyone else was present. Carefully, he cracked his eyes open. The room was dim and a row of blacked out windows faced him. There was a faint glow from a computer screen coming from his left, but he would have to move his head to get a better look.

He remembered starting his mission on the batarian slavers and then the despair and bewilderment when he realized the mission was nothing like he had expected. The brokers were nowhere to be seen and batarian troops kept attacking, forcing him higher and higher into the building until he had retreated into the shadows on top of the tiny room. He had cursed the gods, cursed his handlers, and cursed the batarians for letting his mission go to hell. He was trapped, and he was pragmatic enough to realize he didn't have enough heat sinks to shoot his way free.

Then there was the absolute astonishment and shock at seeing his father appear in the warehouse in the company of a human and turian. He didn't know how it was possible, but he wasn't going to question good fortune. And then...that was the last thing he could remember. He had no recollection of how he had been injured or how he had gotten here. Wherever here was.

He closed his eyes again and forced himself to think, even though the pain was tearing him apart. Odds were that he hadn't been captured by the batarians. They had wanted him dead, and it seemed he was in some sort of medical facility. The thought crossed his mind that they would heal him up just to torture him, and he spared a moment to hope that wasn't the case.

So if it wasn't the batarians, that must mean his father and his companions had been successful. Since he wasn't dead and wasn't still lying in the warehouse, they must have brought him to a clinic. He grimaced in his head and hoped his cover would hold. Right now, his highest priority was getting out of here and back to a safe house to recover in private. Then he could head home to Kahje and figure out what the hell happened to his mission.

He heard a door open, and it took all his training to lie still and feign unconsciousness. He still didn't know if he was in the hands of friends or foes, and he might have only a split second to make his move.

"Kolyat."

His name, spoken by a voice he'd never expected to hear again! Against his will, his eyes flew open and he turned toward the source of the sound. Almost absently, he took in the rest of the room, a small but sophisticated medical bay and a human female with gray hair sitting at a desk behind _him_. The rest of the room faded away as he focused on the figure standing in front of the doorway. The years fell away and it seemed that nothing had changed. His father looked the same as he had ten years ago

"Father?" He watched in disbelief as his father slowly walked forward and stopped at the foot of his bed.

"Hello, Kolyat. I am...pleased to see you again." The words were formal, but Kolyat easily saw the flush in his father's throat and heard the subvocals of anxiety. Kolyat looked around the room again, trying to work out where he was and why. His father noticed his confusion. "You are aboard the Normandy SR2, a frigate commanded by the human Spectre, Shepard. I am working for her now. I had a contact in the Guild who told me that your mission had been compromised. Shepard was gracious enough to divert from her mission to make a rescue attempt. We were successful, but as you can tell, you were grievously wounded, so we brought you back to the Normandy. Dr. Chakwas," he indicated the human behind him, "has repaired your injuries. You may trust her. I do."

It was too much to take in at once. He took note of the openness in his father's subvocals and relaxed fractionally. His father would not trust blindly, so he judged the immediate danger to be small. He thought over everything his father had just said. He'd heard of Shepard, but she'd died two years ago. There had been a huge funeral event on the Citadel. He remembered it it well, since it had made good cover for a mission he'd been on. "Shepard's dead," he said bluntly.

"She was," his father affirmed. "Cerberus brought her back."

Kolyat leaned back as much as he could on the bed to get away from the implications of that statement. He didn't hear a hint of prevarication in his father's voice, and that disturbed him, too. "That's not possible."

Now his father shrugged. "Personally, I suspect the gods were involved. I know of no other way to explain it. She frequently calls herself the four billion credit Frankenstein." The reference was lost on Kolyat, and his father didn't bother to explain. "You may ask her yourself later."

Kolyat had neither the desire nor intention to speak to this mysterious Shepard. There was only one thing that he wanted. "When can I leave?" It was tiny and gone in a flash, but he knew he saw regret and pain on his father's face. Well, that was just too bad for him. He'd made his choices in life. Kolyat might have followed him professionally, but that wasn't by choice. And since becoming a blooded assassin, he'd certainly made a conscious decision _not _to be like him in the most important aspects.

Thane turned toward the human woman. "Dr. Chakwas can answer you."

Kolyat watched warily as the woman approached him. Fortunately, she stopped two meters away from the bed, far enough away that he didn't feel the need to tense and prepare to be attacked. He wondered if she had been briefed by his father on how to handle Compact assassins. "You suffered a severe puncture wound in your abdomen. The metal went completely through you, causing severe damage to your liver as well as internal bleeding. Fortunately, the Normandy is well stocked with synthetic drell blood, and Dr. Solus and I have studied drell physiology extensively in case anything happened to Thane. Still, it was touch and go for several hours there," she told him bluntly. "Quite simply, young man, you're very fortunate to be alive. Commander Shepard has been banned from driving on the Citadel for the foreseeable future, but you're alive because of her."

He lifted the thin sheet and looked down at his abdomen for the first time, seeing a raw, ugly incision and multiple stitches. Several of his scales had come away, or been removed, leaving the underlying skin looking naked and shriveled. It was going to scar, and badly, in spite of the obvious skill of the sutures. He was glad it was someplace that could be hidden by his clothing. "When can I leave?" The words were short and clipped. He didn't want to be here. In spite of the fact that he didn't appear to be in immediate danger, he didn't like this feeling of being out of control.

The female doctor snorted in humor. "Not for some time, Sere Krios. We'll get you up and moving later today, once we're sure the anesthesia has worn off and there are no undue side effects. But you'll be staying in medbay for the next few days so I can keep an eye on you. If everything progresses as it should, you can move to the crew quarters in a few days."

Kolyat didn't want to believe her. He struggled to lift himself onto an elbow, but was stopped by two things: the pain shooting out through his midsection and the doctor stepping forward to put a hand on his chest. She was much stronger than he expected. "I said, later. I don't want you falling over because you stood up too quickly." Her eyes flashed dangerously, and he was reminded suddenly of the doctors in the Guild. They would also react angrily if someone disobeyed their orders. It seemed that some things transcended species.

Kolyat's eyes went to his father, who had moved up next to the doctor. He looked ready to assist her in holding him down. Reluctantly, Kolyat relaxed back into the bed. Just as slowly, the human doctor removed her hand. "I mean what I said, Sere Krios. Will you stay put?" He nodded without taking his gaze from his father. The doctor stared at him another moment, then returned to her station. She evidently had no intention of leaving him unattended.

"You're confined to the Normandy for several days in any case," his father said. "Shepard is enroute to Haestrom. It will be many days before we make port again."

He had been taught to make the most of any situation and adjust to changing circumstances. It appeared this was going to be one of those time. "Very well," he said, bowing to the inevitable.

"Did you have any other questions?" He gave his father credit. Thane had been at this a lot longer than he had, and in spite of all his lessons, he wasn't entirely sure he could read his father's emotions or motives.

Yes, he had questions. Dozens of them. The problem was, he didn't know where to begin. For so long, he had fought to get out from under his father's shadow, to make his own mark in the secretive and highly competitive world he lived in. His father had always been an enigma to him, much more so than his mother. He could start with the first question, the one that tickled the back of his brain when he allowed himself a rare moment to just stop and not think. _Why did you give me to the Compact?_ Or the one that the hanar and Guild had refused to answer for him. _Why was she killed? Did you have anything to do with it? _ Then there was the biggest question of all. The one that made him fight so hard to be seen as Kolyat Krios, not just as Thane's son. _ Why did you leave the Compact? Why did you forsake your teachings and your honor?_ Yet as he looked into the black and green pools of his father's eyes, he couldn't forget the human doctor sitting within earshot. He looked at this man in front of him, someone at once so familiar and still a complete stranger. He knew that he couldn't voice those questions. Not yet. Not here. And yet they loomed so big that they crowded out every other question in his head.

He turned his head away and stared at the back wall. "No." His lips thinned as he realized he'd been unable to suppress the frequencies that denoted lying, a sure sign that his emotional state was just as fragile as his physical one.

He counted the seconds. Eighty five of them passed before his father sighed and spoke. "If you have need of anything, you need only speak to the doctor. If you wish to talk to me, you can ask EDI. She is the ship's Artificial Intelligence. I will stop by later."

Kolyat listened as his father walked away with nearly noiseless steps. Unbidden, the memory rose up.

_Are you leaving, daddy? Again? When's he coming back, mommy? I don't know, sweetling. Tears wet his cheeks, but he doesn't know if they are from him or his mother. His father walks out the door with nearly noiseless steps. Why does he have to leave, mommy? Business. I want my daddy! The door closes behind him._

Kolyat blinked furiously. The memory was old, from a time when it was hard to remember clearly, but some things imprinted so vividly on his childhood memory that there was no escaping them, no matter how hard he tried. And oh how he tried.

He took a deep breath and repeated the same action he had perfected over the years. He pushed the anger, hurt and betrayal deep down inside until it no longer had the power to pain or distract him. Thane might be his father but that didn't mean he was his father's son. He was his own man, and he would prove it to everyone. Especially his father.


End file.
